Introducing the School of Business Badges program

2014-12-02,
9:22 AM

The St. Lawrence College School of Business is pleased to introduce a digital badges program, a unique and professional way for students to have their accomplishments, skills, achievements, and co-curricular learning validated for employment purposes. A Badges Launch party will be held on Thursday, December 4, at 3pm at St. Lawrence College for students, staff, and local businesses.

The earning of these digital badges will complement a student’s transcript and resume when applying for work, further education, or internships. Using the technology from Mozilla Backpack, and customizing the content for SLC Business students, the digital badge is an online representation of a skill the student has earned. The curriculum and grading rubrics for the badges are all designed by SLC students and based on the Essential Employability Skills set out by the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities.

“We’re one of the only colleges in Canada to be offering this enhanced learning opportunity for our students at this time,” said Dr. John Conrad, Associate Dean of the School of Business at St. Lawrence College. “By earning badges, students will compete in a global environment by having their skills, abilities, and achievements verified; it’s an ideal way for them to bolster their education, making them even more career-ready when they graduate.”

The pilot program will start on the Kingston campus for a period of one year. The hope is that the program will grow and include our Brockville and Cornwall students as well, according to Dr. Conrad. “It’s easy for students to get started, it is completely digital. They need a Mozilla account, and then they can start earning badges that recognize work they may already be doing.”

With three friendly campuses in Brockville, Cornwall, and Kingston, St. Lawrence College is an integral part of the economic life and social fabric of Eastern Ontario with a close-knit community of 7,000 full-time students, and more than 80,000 proud alumni. Hundreds are also enrolled in our online and continuing education courses each year. As part of our ongoing sustainability initiatives, the College boasts more than 1,600 rooftop solar modules on our Kingston and Brockville campuses, the largest solar roof-top installation of any post-secondary institution in Canada. The college has many Applied Research projects in progress, as well, our Corporate Learning and Performance Improvement group has helped more than 350 organizations grow and prosper. Through our Employment Service offices we work with thousands of clients annually.